Wieland observes that 40% of severe IAD youth take medication for migraine. The physical detriment of migraine develops into lifelong problems that are many times hard to cure or incurable. The physical health of youth internet addicts are hard to dissect, partly this is because physical health often results from psychological addiction, and as a result, are attributed to traditional addict like symptoms and affects. The negligence of addicts in relations to their health causes indirect health problems, that may not be directly linked to IAD, but internet use lies at the heart of how such problems will occur and are dissected.

Research Question/Hypothesis:

The problem of internet addiction among youth has been carefully dissected through both social and scientific constructs. However, prevailing research into the actual physical and mental health of youth as a direct result of internet addiction has been lacking. The specific research question that this study will center on what the direct relationship between time spent on the internet by young adults is with their physical and mental health.

Methods:

In order to assess the correlation between time spent and health among teens the development of a questionnaire to survey participants focuses on establishing the connection between these two variables. The population pool is selected from local college students within our demographic. Although this sample population does have a diversified pool, they will be randomly stratified from a diversity of students on this campus. In total we will select 20 research participants between the ages of 18 and 23.

They will be blinded in terms of race, gender, etc. however, they will be selected on the basis of internet use. The sample pool will focus on the correlation between high internet use and significant health concerns, therefore participants will be those individuals who use the internet at a minimum of 20 hours per week for non-academic related purposes.

In this study, the use of regression model analysis will be used to assess the ccorrelation between the two variables, to explore the significant predicators upon which IAD rests. The independent variable within this study will be the actual profile of the individuals selected for this test. This includes their demographic location, background, socio-economic status, habitual backgrounds in the use of the internet. The factor that will be isolated within the independent variable category and used in comparison within the regression model will be the number of hours an individual spends on the internet in non-academic use per week.

The dependent variables that we will assess is the mental and physical health problems of students. In order to test such a broad statement of health, we will isolate the particular symptoms associated with internet addiction as well as the general feeling of health associated with how these individuals feel. The purpose in creating both a broad and specific interpretation of this model is to how individuals isolate their condition and how they personally internalize their internet addiction in association with their health.

The actual procedure approached with this study will be to isolate the participants within this study. The questionnaire will be given to them in an isolated environment and they will have five minutes to complete the 20 question survey. When they are completing the survey there will be no one else in the room and they will be completely alone. The goal is not to pressure them when they are given the survey, and the survey will be put into a database on the subject of anomonity to ensure that their answers are honest.

Since the sample population will be picked based on their internet use on a per weekly basis, the use of an individuals who do not have significant internet addiction will be compared with those who do and thus the direct analysis will look at how we can conclusively monitor internet addiction through our this process.

Survey Questions:

Answer the following questions on a 1 to 5 scale, with 5 being that you agree the most and 1 being you completely disagree, unless directed by the question to do otherwise.

How many hours on a weekly basis do you use the internet for non-academic related used?

How often do you experience staying online longer than you originally intended?

How often do you experience loss of sleep related to late night internet use?

Do you experience feeling better when you are online vs. offline?

Do you experience the desire to assume online personas in real life?

Have you ever experienced preference for being online rather than the intimacy of spending time with your partner?

Do you feel that life without...

Participants who use the internet more than 30 hours per week for non-academic purposes reported a slightly greater level of physical health problems. They answered a strongly to questions regarding migraine headaches and especially missing meals as well as heavy eye soreness. However, overall participants all characterized themselves as of average health and that their internet use does not have a negative impact on their health. We will examine the results through two breakdowns, those who spend more than 20 hours on non-academic internet use and those who spend less than 20 hours. Secondly a look at questions that examine their mental health vs. those that attempt to examine their physical health.
Participants that spend more than 20 hours per week tend to answer aggressively on questions associated with affinity with their online identity. Most strongly agreed that they often spend more time than they originally intended online. This can be a heavy indicator of IAD, which suggests that the lack of time management or the losing of time awareness is one of the primary indicators of internet addiction. They also answers positively in associating the lack of sleep due to internet use. Compared to those individuals who spend less than 20 hours, they tend to have less of a sense of time management and a greater affinity to friendships established online. However, both groups compared favorably in questions assessing their personal relationships. With everyone answering that they would rather spend physical time with friends and loved ones rather than "virtual time." However, those with more than 20 hours answered aggressively on the question of whether their life would be boring and joyless without the internet. This is another strong indicator of IAD according to Young's DSM-IV analysis. The trend established in this comparison is that those who use the internet more than 20 hours exhibit a far greater dependency upon online use than those who do not. They tend to lose themselves within their virtual identity. However, unlike traditional hypothesis on social withdrawal as a result of IAD, those individuals who favor heavy online use still seem to desire spending physical time with others. Overall the data between this comparison is similar across both category types.

For participants who have over 20 hours of online time, mental health seems to be slightly below that of those under 20 hours. They answers more aggressively on questions that asked their need for the internet as an emotional support. On the question of feeling better online than offline, those who spent more than 20 hours answered more aggressively. This can be linked as a sign of social withdrawal and another IAD characteristic. Another area that stands out in terms of the psychological health is that they take ownership over certain websites and chat rooms that they call their own. This possessiveness of their online identities is a symptom of emotional dependence on established virtual identities. It is a distinctive question because those who spent less than 20 hours answered this question very differently. In general it can be concluded that those who use the internet more than 20 hours tend to depend on it as an emotional crutch and as a result, feel less comfortable in the physical environment than their virtual environment. Most of them answered aggressively when asked about how much they anticipate going online, which again shows how much…